Workers’ Party absent in second round of multi-party Opposition talks
Opposition parties, minus the Worker’s Party, gather at the end of their all-hands talks after agreeing on a compromise to contest which wards in the next General Election (Photo: Kyle Malinda-White)
By: Kyle Malinda-White
The opposition Workers’ Party (WP) was the only major party not present at the second round of talks Friday (7 Aug) by nine opposition parties to ensure cooperation and avoid three-cornered fights in the next General Election.
At the end of the hour-long meeting at 9.50pm at the National Solidarity Party (NSP) headquarters, it was revealed that all 89 seats look set to be contested if negotiation outcomes go according to plan on Nomination Day.
Although most constituencies have only one opposition party contesting the seat, three-cornered fights are still in contention in single member constituency (SMC) MacPherson and group representation constituencies (GRC) Marine Parade and Ang Mo Kio.
While WP and NSP have expressed interest in MacPherson and Marine Parade, the Singaporeans First (SingFirst) party and Reform Party are keen in running for the six-member Ang Mo Kio GRC.
In 2011, the Marine Parade GRC was led by Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, while Ang Mo Kio GRC was led by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. It is likely both ministers will stand for elections in their respective constituencies, according to media reports.
NSP acting secretary-general Hazel Poa said that she received a text message from WP’s Sylvia Lim informing her of the party’s absence. “It’s not binding on anyone,” said SingFirst’s Tan Jee Say when explaining that opposition parties were not mandated to attend the all-hands talks.
Reform Party secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam left the meeting about halfway through, saying to the media that he hopes to solve the dispute with SingFirst over who will contest Ang Mo Kio GRC after the Tan Jee Say-led party staked claim to the constituency.
When asked what would happen if the dispute cannot be resolved, Jeyaretnam said, “Then there will be a three-cornered fight unless we resolve this through bilateral negotiations.”
To this, Tan later said that it is possible a joint team could be fielded with candidates from both SingFirst and Reform Party.
Multi-cornered fights a symbol of “true democracy”?
All 89 seats look set to be contested in the next General Election, but some tussles still remain between Workers’ Party and National Solidarity Party, and SingFirst and Reform Party (Photo: Kyle Malinda-White)
NSP’s former secretary Tan Lam Siong, however, felt that Opposition parties should not compromise with each other to avoid three-cornered fights.
“I’m all for trying to have a unified stand but at the same time, we have to be fair to the voters. It’s good for them to have as many choices as possible. I’m all for multi-cornered fights. I always believe that if you want true democracy, you’ve got to give people choices and not restrict the choices,” said Tan.
Tan intends to contest the Potong Pasir ward as an independent. He was not invited to Friday’s talks but was seen at NSP’s headquarters in Jalan Besar.
One of the compromises was seen in Singapore Democratic Party’s (SDP) decision Friday to pull out of Sembawang GRC and let NSP contest the ward. In a media statement, SDP secretary-general Chee Soon Juan said “there must be a give-and-take attitude” to avoid multi-cornered fights.
“This is a difficult decision to make as we contested in the area in the 2011 general election and have been working the ground there since then. We apologise to the residents of the Sembawang GRC but we feel that in order that there be one-to-one contests between the PAP (People’s Action Party) and the opposition parties, compromise is key,” said Chee.
Also in a move of solidarity, the Singapore People’s Party announced it will team up with the Democratic Progressive Party to field a joint team in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC. Both parties were seen conducting walkabouts in the area weeks before the all-hands talks started.
NSP’s Sebastian Teo says such all-hands Opposition meetings will likely no longer happen as most seats have been agreed on.
